The Fires, A History of Gentrification with Christopher Lopez

1. Name, age, where are you from, what format you like using, what are you currently working on if you are? 

My name is Christopher López, I'm 40, and I was born in The Bronx and raised in New Jersey. Currently I'm using the Fujifilm GFX system to make images for my most recent ongoing project. The project is titled, The Fires, and it explores the history of gentrification and arson in the city of Hoboken, New Jersey. 

2. What about your surroundings/environments and upbringing interested you? 

I loved my grandmother's house. She lived in a really special part of The Bronx called Classon Point or Harding Park but it was known in the area as Little Puerto Rico. The area is distinct for its small homes that resemble typical homes on the islands. Pinks and greens, zigzagged metal roofs and intricate metal grate fences that wrapped the terraces. There were even gallos that walked freely throughout the neighborhood that used to scare the hell out of me as a kid. That place has a special type of energy. I think it's responsible for a lot of the subjects I'd photograph throughout my career. 

3. When was the first time you met photography? How did you feel when you met it?

I took a photo class in college as an elective for a study abroad program in Florence, Italy. That was the first time I was introduced to photography. The city is incredible with so much dramatic light so it felt effortless to make beautiful pictures. I was drawn to photographing people and street scenes pretty immediately. It was just a lot of fun and I became totally hooked. When I got back to New York I decided that I wanted to be a photographer. My first interaction with photography beyond that class was at the Aperture Foundation. I'd attend their talks and hang out in their bookstore for hours. My first job in photography was at the Spanish language newspaper El Diario. I covered spot news for the metro section. During that time I was slowly developing personal work photographing Puerto Rican communities throughout the boroughs. Those earliest images in my opinion still remain some of my best.   

4. Tell us about current projects you have been working on (could be any, or just work you have been doing in general). Is this story inspired out of personal reasons, or others? What are you most excited about in these projects? 

I've been working on my current project since 2021. It started during quarantine as something of interest that turned into a total rabbit hole. There is no written history of Hoboken's arson fires which is what drove me most to create one. There was 1 essay written on the subject, Hoboken Is Burning: Yuppies, Arson, and Displacement in the Postindustrial City written by professor and scholar, Dylan Gottlieb. The essay detailed the mass displacement and deaths of many Puerto Ricans during the city's rampant gentrification in the late 1970's and early 80's. I remember being hurt by learning of these deaths, so many people that felt like any of them could have been someone in my family. I was doubly hurt, after searching for more information, that there was nowhere else where their names or histories could be found. It was just right timing because I had nothing but time. I started reading as many digitally-born news archives from the times that I could find online and began building my own timeline of the events. After about 6 months of research and note taking I had come to the realization that this would all have been in vain if I had not tried to reach out to some of the families. Today, my archive comprises thousands of pieces of information from oral histories, to vernacular family photographs, documents, news clippings and original photographs.   

5. How did you find your visual literacy? Why are you attracted to certain images more than others? 

I feel we're in an exciting time for photography. People are making powerful images in the world and subject matter in storytelling is becoming more and more diverse. Visually, I'm attracted to intimacy in images. Imagemakers that are closer to their subject will make rawer images. These types of images make me feel gratitude in that I feel like they might have never seen the light of day if not for the effort of artists. Images that push limits this way carry the capacity to challenge our notions of people and place and help us to unlearn indoctrinated, toxic stereotypes. For the last couple of years I have been making more collaborative portraits that are informed by often months of conversations with someone. I have become less inclined to make portraits of people without that level of intimacy. It makes it so that their final image, the one that lives in the world, is something we really did together. 

6. Imagine meeting someone who is picking up a camera for the first time. What do you tell them?

There is a love in you. You need to give it a name. Once you give it a name you've given it value. No one can take that from you and it is something that should live in every image you make.